Tart's the place for cake

I've been meaning to go to Tart for a while, not least because of the name.

It's at the bottom end of the Gloucester Road in Bristol - not the first place you'd think of searching for a high-end café and cake shop. (It's got much more of a hippyish vibe. It's the place I go to buy cheap pulses and spices.)

Anyway Tart seems to be doing very nicely thankyou. On a Friday lunchtime it was rammed to the gills with yummy mummies and their offspring tucking into tarts (obviously) - and a fair amount of cake. There's a special atmosphere when you walk through the door that's quite out of keeping with its surroundings. It feels a bit Chocolat, if you've seen the film - not quite real.

The best thing they do is a Tart Teatime Plate, a selection from their cakes of the day. We shared one (above) which included a fabulously crumbly carrot cake (so crumbly it kept falling over inelegantly, as you can see), a spicy (cinnamon) Tunisian orange cake, a pretty good chocolate cake and a slice of one of the best Bakewell tarts I've ever eaten - all for £5.70 a head including tea. A much better deal than the champagne tea which costs a silly £17.95 a head.

Breakfast also sounds good - they do a mushroom and caramelised onion rarebit which I feel has got to be tried.

And - clever idea - they sell ready-made sweet and savoury pastry at 50p a 100g to take away and make your own tarts. As if you'd want to if you lived on their doorstep, which I'm relieved in many ways that I don't. I'd be in there all the bloody time.

I should say I ate in Tart as a guest of the restaurant but don't let that put you off. It really is good.